The Ekklesia Project - Episode 85

A freedman of God hosting a journey to discover the lost ekklesia of God.
As we continue this mini-series exploring how one obtains eternal life, in this episode we focus on the manner in which Jesus depicted himself in the role assigned to him by the Father. In short, Jesus describes himself as the embodiment of the way of salvation that believers must follow and know in order to obtain eternal life. Jesus states, “I am the Light of the kosmos.”, and, “I am the Good Shepherd.”, and, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Thus, Jesus was not merely providing written commands dictated by the Father as did Moses, as the mediator of the Old Covenant. Rather, Jesus embodied the way of salvation as the messenger of His presence in his role as mediator of the New Covenant. This is why Jesus would proclaim, “I am” the Light, the Good Shepherd, the way, truth, and life. Accordingly, one of the New Covenant age is seeking eternal life, he must seek to live as Jesus lived, and he must seek this with his whole heart. This is why Paul would repeatedly teach that you must be crucified with Christ, so that Christ might live in you. In other words, if Christ died in your place, he will be living in your place. If Christ is not living in your place, he may not have died in your place. This is the test Paul gave to the members of the Corinthian ekklesia to determine whether one was “in the faith.” 2 Corinthians 13:5. In order to learn to know Jesus, you must first understand his commands and obey them. If one perseveres in doing this, Jesus says one will be a “true” disciple and come to “know” the truth, or Christ himself as the “truth”, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31.
Though all of the above is true, one should not falsely conclude that you can “earn” eternal life by seeking to live as Christ lived. Eternal life is not earned by your efforts and works, rather, eternal life is a gift or reward given to those who earnestly seek God, which, in the New Covenant age, means those who earnestly seek to live as Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9. Notwithstanding this truth, however, all will be judged by their deeds. Romans 2:5-11; 2 Corinthians 5;10. Moreover, one must never forget that the motivation of a deed is always considered when the deed is judged as righteous or unrighteous. (We learned this in an earlier episode when analyzing Romans 2.) Love motivated the works of Christ, together with his deepest faith in his Father as being true. Accordingly, only those good works motivated by a sincere love for God, and a true faith in His promise to reward those who seek Him, will be counted as righteous deeds.